CII says more steps required to make India investment friendly

WASHINGTON: More steps needs to be taken to make India an investment friendly destination as there is a long way to go, a top leader of an association of Indian businesses has said here in the US.

“We have seen a whole series of initiatives that the government has taken on the ground but there is a long way to go,” Naushad Forbes, president-designate of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said yesterday.

During an interaction at Atlantic Council, a top American think-tank, Forbes, who is currently leading an industry delegation to the US, observed that more steps needs to be taken to make India an investment friendly destination.

Referring to some of the recent announcements taken for Foreign Direct Investment in India, Forbes said there is a huge potential in manufacturing sector both from the growth perspective and inclusion perspective.

“This is just starting down now,” he said.

Goods and Services Tax ( GST), one of the key issues for economic reforms, he said, has been talked about for a long period of time.

“We have great confidence that it (GST) would pass in the next couple of months,” Forbes said, adding that according to CII estimates, this would result in increase in India’s GDP.

CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said the seven per cent growth rate achieved last quarter could be impressive by international standards, but not by Indian standards.

“This is much below what we want to grow. We want to grow at 10 per cent. For this we want the manufacturing to grow 10-15 per cent,” he said.

The potential of India US trade, he argued, is huge. It is time, India and US moved from a buyer-seller relationship to those of co-production and co-development.

Banerjee said India is now a land of opportunities and it is for the US companies to take benefit of it.

CMD of Cadila Pharmaceuticals Rajiv Modi said the Indian Intellectual Property Rights regime is compliant with World Trade Organization.

Observing that India is one of the largest producers of generic medicines, thus providing affordable medical care to people around the globe, he said India and the US can use their capabilities in the pharmaceutical sectors take the bilateral relationship to a new level.